The Man’s Decree – Chapter 5919

"Soul Devourer, did you truly think I had not seen through your little Charade?" Malcolm asked as he took three unhurried steps back.

The chains binding Soul Devourer clanged, sparks leaping as the captive thrashed in futile rage, yet Malcolm's pallid, ash-tinted eyes remained flat, indifferent, almost corpse-like.

"You feigned allegiance, nothing more," he continued, voice a measured hush that somehow filled the hall. "You planned to curl up inside my Malevolent Path Hall, leech its baleful aura, mend your wounds, and when you finally claw back to your former peak, the very first soul you intend to harvest, would have been mine."

Malcolm spoke the accusation not in anger but as if reciting a ledger entry.

"After all, the Soul-Devouring Technique can advance only by consuming souls stronger than the last," he went on. "My own soul has bathed ten thousand years in the currents of reincarnation. To you, it must smell like ambrosia distilled from the gods."